Danone North America Public Benefit Corporation makes the International Delight brand of coffee whiteners. But the complaint claims that Danone improperly identifies the product as a “coffee creamer,” even though, according to the complaint, it contains no cream and hardly any milk products at all.
Two classes have been defined for this action:
- The Illinois Class is all persons in Illinois who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.
- The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Arkansas, South Dakota, Wyoming, North Carolina, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Mississippi, Virginia, and Oklahoma who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.
“Cream,” the complaint says, is defined by dictionaries “as the thick part of milk that rises to the top, containing fat.” The complaint quotes regulations from the Food and Drug Administration as defining cream as “the liquid milk product high in fat separated from milk, [with] not less than 18 percent milkfat.”
Coffee cream is a different product, the complaint claims, made specifically for whitening coffee that “contains not less than 18 percent but less than 30 percent milkfat” that may also contain sweeteners or flavors. The International Delight line includes flavors such as white chocolate raspberry and hazelnut.
Page 2 of the complaint shows two bottles of the product and an enlargement of a portion of the label at the front of the bottle that says, “Coffee Creamer.” The complaint alleges that this designation is “confusingly similar to other products labeled this way that do contain dairy ingredients such as cream.
Page 4 shows an image of the product’s ingredient panel. The main ingredients are “Water, Sugar, Palm Oil,” after which comes the words, “Contains 2% or Less of: Sodium Caseinate (a Milk Derivative” and a list of other ingredients.” “In place of cream,” the complaint alleges, “the Product substitutes water and palm oil, the first and third ingredients, to reduce costs.”
The product is misleadingly labeled, the complaint claims, because it “is not labeled in a way that distinguishes it from coffee creamers made from cream, through conspicuous statements such as ‘non-dairy’ or ‘a vegetable product—contains no milk or milk fat.’” Nor does it claim to be a “coffee whitener.
“Consumer value coffee cream over non-dairy coffee whiteners because milkfat contains hundreds of aroma compounds, or lactones, which provide its ‘creamy’ taste” and because cream offers “nutritive benefits.”
The complaint alleges that the company sells the product at higher price because of the “misleading representations and omissions…”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
International Delight “Coffee Creamer” Contains No Cream Complaint
December 19, 2022
Danone North America Public Benefit Corporation makes the International Delight brand of coffee whiteners. But the complaint claims that Danone improperly identifies the product as a “coffee creamer,” even though, according to the complaint, it contains no cream and hardly any milk products at all.
International Delight “Coffee Creamer” Contains No Cream ComplaintCase Event History
International Delight “Coffee Creamer” Contains No Cream Complaint
December 19, 2022
Danone North America Public Benefit Corporation makes the International Delight brand of coffee whiteners. But the complaint claims that Danone improperly identifies the product as a “coffee creamer,” even though, according to the complaint, it contains no cream and hardly any milk products at all.
International Delight “Coffee Creamer” Contains No Cream Complaint